The writ petition also claims that amending the indictment in a case that cannot be settled will deprive thousands of savers of their right to justice.
What you should know
A writ petition against Attorney General Savita Bhandari's decision to amend the charge sheet against Rastriya Swatantra Party President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in connection with money laundering and organized crime has been scheduled for hearing.
The hearing is being held in a joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shrikant Poudel. Earlier, a single bench of Justice Abdul Aziz Musalman had sought a written response from the Attorney General's Office on Tuesday. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case after receiving the written response.
In a writ petition filed on Thursday by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi, law student Ayush Badal and Yubaraj Poudel Safal, the decision of the Attorney General's Office has been quashed, calling it 'prima facie illegal, malicious and arbitrary'.
Attorney General Savita Bhandari had decided to amend the charge sheet in the cases filed against Lamichhane in the Kaski, Kathmandu, Rupandehi and Parsa district courts on 30 Poush 2082 to remove the claims of 'organized crime' and 'money laundering'.
The decision argued that Lamichhane was charged with political vendetta and that the interests of savers should be prioritized. Although Section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Code was used as the basis for amending the charges, the writ petitioner claims that this is in effect an act of ‘withdrawing the case’. The writ argues that the decision was a ‘fraudulent use of the law’ when Section 116 of the Code prohibits the withdrawal of money laundering cases.
The writ states that granting immunity in serious economic crimes like money laundering will put Nepal on the blacklist of the International Financial Action Task Force and cause irreparable damage to the country.
It has also been argued that amending the charges in cases like organized crime and money laundering that cannot be settled will deprive thousands of savers of their right to justice.
